The Hasty Heart

Summary

1957 BBC Television production of John Patrick’s The Hasty Heart.

Theatre play

The Hasty Heart by John Patrick [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in the convalescent hut of an Army hospital on the Assam-Burma front in World War II, where the inmates are a broad international mix. Sergeant Lachlen McLachlen - who, unlike everyone else, does not know that he has only six weeks to live - is allocated to this congenial ‘ward’.

Production history

'Written in 1944 and first staged on January 3, 1945 with Richard Basehart and Anne Burr and Earl Jones as Basuto, The Hasty Heart grew out of the playwright’s experiences in an ambulance unit on the Burma front in World War II. The play was made into a movie in 1949 (with Richard Todd and Ronald Reagan) and was revived on Broadway in 1984’ (source: http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1345).

Date of transmission

Thursday 29 August 1957

Time

8.00-9.30pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Finlay J. Macdonald

Playwright

John Patrick

Designer

Donald Horne

Cast

Michael Bird	Tommy
Barrie Cookson	Kiwi
Laidlaw Dalling	Orderly
Edet Effiong	Blossom
Ursula Howells	Margaret
Gordon Jackson	Lachlen
Kevin Miles	Digger
Anthony Nicholls	Colonel
Dermot Walsh	Yank

Additional details

Play tags

Burma, as theme or setting; comedy; India, as theme or setting; Second World War, as theme or setting; wartime, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Broadcasting Programmes (Newspaper listing)

Reference

The Irish Times, 29 August 1957, p. 6

Title

Radio Times, 14 September 1961 (Magazine)

Linking notes

very brief mention in article on 1961 BBC production, p. 13

Title

Radio Times, 23 August 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, article and photograph on p. 21